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Amateur photographer Jozsef Urmos was out looking for wildflowers near Mosier in the Columbia Gorge when he spotted the first mile-long oil train to ply Oregon's rails in the gorge.
(Jozsef Urmos/Special to The Oregonian)

Jozsef Urmos, a 55-year-old amateur photographer from Beaverton, was looking for blooming balsamroot in the Columbia River Gorge near Mosier April 18 when he heard a train coming.

“It looked like one of those garbage trains,” Urmos said. “The buffer cars were two flat ones with containers. Then all these tank cars kept coming through. And more tank cars. And more tank cars.”

He took a few pictures and zoomed in on the tanks’ red warning placards. They were slightly blurry, but the identification number was clear. It read 1267 – crude oil.

Urmos turned out to be witnessing what Union Pacific Railroad says was the first train solely carrying oil through the Oregon side of the gorge.

“I feel like I took a picture of Sasquatch crossing the road,” Urmos said.

Trains carrying 100 or more oil tankers have previously been moving on the Washington side of the Columbia River. Union Pacific had said it was hauling a few oil tank cars in interspersed freight trains on the Oregon side.

Urmos, who tries to walk in the gorge weekly, saw his first oil train last May in Washington. He’s taken several photographs of them on that side of the river and even this video. “It’s been on my radar,” he said. “One of these goes off the tracks and it’s a major problem for the Columbia (River) and everything else.”

Urmos sent his photograph to the nonprofit Friends of the Columbia Gorge, which notified The Oregonian.

A Union Pacific spokesman confirmed to The Oregonian the train was carrying oil from Utah and said it had told rail officials at the Oregon Department of Transportation about the shipment.

But the company didn’t tell emergency responders along the rail route and neither did ODOT. Two fire chiefs along the route learned about the oil train shipment from The Oregonian afterward.

Despite Gov. John Kitzhaber’s earlier pledge to review and tighten oil train safety, first responders and the public continue to be left in the dark about crude-by-rail movements in Oregon.

Kitzhaber reinforced his commitment Wednesday to improving those rules, saying he believes it’s critical for emergency responders to know what’s moving through their communities so they can train for and respond to emergencies.

Kitzhaber has organized a Tuesday briefing for state legislators and local officials to discuss oil train safety in Oregon.